Supported with public funds by Arts Council England.

Supported by Norfolk County Council.

Pre-amble

Firstly, let me share this link to the newspaper article that was written by The Lynn News in response to Transformations. It sums up the whole experience entirely: ‘ArtiPeeps King’s Lynn exhibition ‘rip-roaring success”:

And here’s the Wordle I did of the Evaluation Sheet we had at the exhibition (click to enlarge):

For me, the most interesting evaluatory word in real terms amidst all of the above is the word ‘Confused’. This lone word is potentially a real point of growth and development for us. What we presented to a viewing audience was a huge swathe of material that nearly everybody appreciated in someway, but that maybe still needs to be contextualised more for better understanding. It’s made me ask: do we need more explanatory information?; how can we best guide people around our projects? are we putting on collaborations or exhibitions? These are big, fundamental questions that affect our artistic practice and future projects. These are all really great questions to be asking as we step into our next project.

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Art and Connecting

When Transformations first started out as a project I hadn’t even thought of incorporating art or making it a multi-form project. It was going to be solely a poetry project. However, the power of juxtaposing one form up against another is undeniable, and the more that thought brewed the more the idea of bringing art in seemed inevitable. The art and the poetry could juxtapose, they could also mirror. Either way they would stimulate interest in different ways, broadening out the reach of our project. I never thought in my wildest dreams that in the asking and in the return I would get such a diversity of mediums, themes and styles. The level of skill too was beyond measure too. Also the mixture of emerging and professional creatives provided a really good balance.

Seven seems to have been our lucky number as 7 pieces of art were sold too:James Mackenzie’s The Moon’s Dark Shadow, which went to the Vice Principal of King Edward VII Academy, King’s Lynn:

The Proud owner of James Mackenzie’s picture

AndLili Morganhad her first ever picture bought…Here’s the red marker going on, placed by the owner:

The moment Lili’s painting was sold

BothKelly Occhiuzzo’spiece Echo and Narcissus was sold, and two prints of emerging artistCharle Redding’sprintThe Mortal Coilwere also sold. We hope to build on this next year with a designated promotion zone where people can sell other pieces and exhibition prints.

Also the impact of the comic strip and cartoon orientated pictures was pivotal in the consolidation of our use of comics in what we do:

The interest younger people showed in the comic strip material was obvious and a really good introduction to the material and to Ovid’s Metamorphoses. With The Nine Realms we will be having a designated Comic Corner, a physical comic and hopefully an animation of some sort.

Overall, a good number of us met for the first-time, and connected in real-time. I’m hoping that next year even more of us can meet and share in the collective experience. I’m excited to communicate our next project to a viewing and hearing audience in King’s Lynn and Norfolk, who now not only know who we are but also the quality of our work and our intention. In the not-to-distant-future I am hoping to put in place some sort of travel bursary to help creatives take part in our projects in real-time, so more of the collective can meet and see the impact of their work on others.

I shall be introducing our next large-scale project on Wednesday, and thank you, once again, for your interest.

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Lydia Allison our ‘Writer In Residence’ for the month of October.

..and a new Halloween Monster !

‘I often just write what I feel. I have a real interest in physicality/beauty/deformity as I think image impacts on everyone. I’m particularly interested in how people see themselves and how that influences their appearance or physicality subconsciously/metaphorically in terms of their feeling or actively by self harm/eating disorders. And I’m interested in perceptions of beauty and body dysmorphia’.

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Happy Halloween Everyone!

And to celebrate we’re not only offering you Lydia’s final poem focusing on deformation, specially written to pull the project together but also a new monster formed out of all the poem illustrations by the artists involved in this project who have been inspired by Lydia’s poems. You probably haven’t seen anything like it before! This has been created by Sara Mena(you can see the image she contributed last week here).

The talented artists collaborating in Lydia’s project alongside Sara have been Gary Caldwell (whose art work went out in our first post here) andAmanda Santos (whose art work went out a fortnight ago here) and Diana Probst (whose art work you can see here).

We hope you’ve enjoyed the juxtaposition of words and images over the weeks, and a big thank you to Lydia for providing the artists with such a rich source of imagery and themes. We’ve enjoyed having you and your poetry with us. I really hope the connection will continue. And another BIG thank you to Gary, Amanda, Diana and Sara for their terrific artwork, which you can see collectively transformed below.

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Our Collaborative Poem Monster

Claws

by Lydia Allison

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Please click on the poem image to enlarge if you need to

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Writer’s Biography

‘I’ve been writing for a couple of years and am currently in my final year of my BA in Creative Writing. Two years ago I thought it would be a miracle for me to string lines into poetry, but quickly fell in love with it and proved myself wrong. My real passion lies between the border of poetry and prose.’

Lydia Allison our ‘Writer In Residence’ for the month of October.

..and the ever-changing Halloween Monster !

‘I often just write what I feel. I have a real interest in physicality/beauty/deformity as I think image impacts on everyone. I’m particularly interested in how people see themselves and how that influences their appearance or physicality subconsciously/metaphorically in terms of their feeling or actively by self harm/eating disorders. And I’m interested in perceptions of beauty and body dysmorphia’.

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Here’s the fourth of five poems on deformation by Lydia Allison illustrated this week by artist Sara Mena. You’ll also find the third instalment of our ever-morphing, dastardly collaborative monster. This drawing is being collectively produced and passed from artist-to artist week-by-week- all contributing to one image.

So….each week you’ve been presented with a new poem and two new images/artworks (one illustration & one growing monster) today is the final poem and monster completion before the grande reveal next week of a new poem by Lydia especially written for the culmination of this project and the final collaborative version of the monster in situ for Halloween on the 31st.

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He’s amphibian….who’d of thought…

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Writer’s Biography

‘I’ve been writing for a couple of years and am currently in my final year of my BA in Creative Writing. Two years ago I thought it would be a miracle for me to string lines into poetry, but quickly fell in love with it and proved myself wrong. My real passion lies between the border of poetry and prose.’

Artist’s Biography:

“HI I’m Sara Mena, i’m a freelance illustrator and 2D artist and very positive with life and with the things I love. I was born in 1985 and although I have a BA in Graphic Design I was always drawn to the visual arts and illustration and decided to go that way. I like to work in paper and digital, usually mixing those two. I’m passionate with expression and emotion in paintings and drawings and I like merging media to find new ways of expression and to convey responses. At present time, I’m doing figurative work, science art and also art for videogames. Sometimes I work in some art exhibitions. I’m glad to be able to work with such different areas, they make me use different techniques and make me think in particular ways, that helps me grow and expand my art.

Lydia Allison our ‘Writer In Residence’ for the month of October.

..and the ever-changing Halloween Monster!

‘I often just write what I feel. I have a real interest in physicality/beauty/deformity as I think image impacts on everyone. I’m particularly interested in how people see themselves and how that influences their appearance or physicality subconsciously/metaphorically in terms of their feeling or actively by self harm/eating disorders. And I’m interested in perceptions of beauty and body dysmorphia’.

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Here’s the third of five poems on deformation by Lydia Allison illustrated this week by artist Diana Probst(See her biography below). You’ll also find the third instalment of our ever-morphing, dastardly collaborative monster. This drawing is being collectively produced and passed from artist-to artist week-by-week- all contributing to one image.

The artists collaborating in Lydia’s project alongside Diana are Gary Caldwell (whose art work went out in our first post here) and Amanda Santos (whose art work went out last week here) and Sara Mena (whose art work is still to come).

So….each week you’ll be presented with a new poem and two new images/artworks (one illustration & one growing monster). You’ll be introduced to each artist as we go along too.

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Please do click on the image to enlarge

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Cauliflower Heart

by Lydia Allison

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You see them, don’t you? These little scars just below where my bra sits? In the right light they shine like new You noticed my fingers blackened at the tips nails hard feeling gone

. I know, I’m trying not to slouch, but can’t you see the ropes? Woven thick and reaching down? All these tendons from tired knee to toe are old rubber bands I can’t reach any more stretch…….. leap……fall best foot worn

. these stitches run like ladders pulling holes but not everyone can see like you they see: red wine purple teeth cheshire cat grin but not the split fruit skin, and under it all the hard tissue grows.

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Writer’s Biography

‘I’ve been writing for a couple of years and am currently in my final year of my BA in Creative Writing. Two years ago I thought it would be a miracle for me to string lines into poetry, but quickly fell in love with it and proved myself wrong. My real passion lies between the border of poetry and prose.’

Artist’s Biography:

Diana is a young artist in Cambridge, who is continually surprised that people will pay her to do what she loves. She likes beer and being paid on time. She has illustrated two books and a lot of bits of paper. She wants to paint portraits, takes commissions, and drinks tea like it is water.

Lydia Allison our ‘Writer In Residence’ for the month of October.

..and the ever-changing Halloween Monster!

‘I often just write what I feel. I have a real interest in physicality/beauty/deformity as I think image impacts on everyone. I’m particularly interested in how people see themselves and how that influences their appearance or physicality subconsciously/metaphorically in terms of their feeling or actively by self harm/eating disorders. And I’m interested in perceptions of beauty and body dysmorphia’.

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Here’s the second of five poems on deformation by Lydia Allison illustrated by emerging Artist Amanda Santos (See her biography below), and the second instalment of our ever-morphing, dastardly collaborative monster. This drawing is being collaboratively produced and passed from artist-to artist week-by-week all contributing to one image.

The artists collaborating in Lydia’s project alongside Amanda are Gary Caldwell (whose work went out in our first post here) and Diana Probst and Sara Mena (whose work is to come). So….each week you’ll be presented with a new poem and two new images/artworks (one illustration & one growing monster) and you’ll also be introduced to each artist.

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Please do click on the image to enlarge

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Blood Gold

by Lydia Allison

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it drags the veins as it flushes and trudgesheavy and sludgy, it reminds youof energy and time and waste

.it weighsand stretches the fibresthe skinuntil she is numband unable to seethe leaves that shimmerednow gather around the rich tree root trunk of her heartlike cholesterol snagging in cornersand shutting valves like doors.

.the keya bright speck that navigates the brainor abides in the green retina of the left eyehe noticed once

.and hurts? can you not know?

.it hurtsit makes her shineand now it poolsa small dam lowin her chest

Writer’s Biography

‘I’ve been writing for a couple of years and am currently in my final year of my BA in Creative Writing. Two years ago I thought it would be a miracle for me to string lines into poetry, but quickly fell in love with it and proved myself wrong. My real passion lies between the border of poetry and prose.’

Artist’s Biography:

“Hi, my name is Amanda Santos. I’m a junior in High School, and I only really got involved in art a year ago in my Art I class. Since then I have tried to learn everything that I possibly can about every type of art that I could find. I am still trying to find a style and a voice in the artistic world, but I’m on my way.”

Introducing Lydia Allison our ‘Writer In Residence’ for the month of October.

..and The Monster!

I approached Lydia a while ago proposing that she could maybe take up a month long residency on ArtiPeeps and to my delight she said yes! It was Lydia who then came up with the idea of focusing on notions of deformity as she had written a number of poems about it. When I asked Lydia the question, ‘why deformity?’, this is what she said about her interest:

‘I often just write what I feel. I have a real interest in physicality/beauty/deformity as I think image impacts on everyone. I’m particularly interested in how people see themselves and how that influences their appearance or physicality subconsciously/metaphorically in terms of their feeling or actively by self harm/eating disorders. And I’m interested in perceptions of beauty and body dysmorphia’.

And this is what Lydia said about herself too:

‘I’ve been writing for a couple of years and am currently in my final year of my BA in Creative Writing. Two years ago I thought it would be a miracle for me to string lines into poetry, but quickly fell in love with it and proved myself wrong. My real passion lies between the border of poetry and prose.’

It was very clear that Lydia could ‘string lines into poetry’ and she produced 4 poems focused around the body or parts of the body. We decided that it would be wonderful if these poems could be illustrated and, because Halloween is a coming, for the artists involved to use the parts of the body fleshed out within her poems to inspire a Collaborative Halloween Monster too.

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So what you’ll find for the next four weeks is one poem of Lydia’s illustrated by an artist each week and an ever- growing, ghastly Monster being created alongside it; the nature of which, will gradually emerge bit by bit.

This drawing will be collaboratively produced and passed from artist-to artist week-by-week all contributing to one image. The artists collaborating in Lydia’s project are Gary Caldwell, Amanda Santos, Diana Probst and Sara Mena. Each week you’ll be presented with a new poem and two new images/artworks (one illustration & one growing monster) and you’ll also be introduced to each artist.

Today’s images have been created by artist and illustrator Gary Caldwell who is currently living and working in Aberdeen, Scotland. Indeed Gary is also responsible for our ArtiPeeps logo on the sidebar. His graphics are always striking.

A couple of months a go I asked Kelly if she would like to take up our Visitor Peep/artist in residence initiative for a month, and we started to discuss the nature of collaboration and connection. As we talked Kelly came up with the idea of online, Twitter-based artists co-creating pieces of art. Passing work, one-to-the-other, and creating something truly collaborative. I then found the artists and what will follow over the next 4 weeks and be posted out on a weekly basis will be the gradual unfolding of 4 new, truly collaborative pieces of art. The project is intended to be experimental, fun, and with an emphasis on the connectivity and the process more than the completed compositions themselves.

After 5 weeks of passing the ‘Interactions and Intersections’ Project finally draws to a close this week. Each original artwork from each artist having been passed between the artists 4 times. You’ll find Kelly’s, Sara’s and Amanda’s final pieces below.

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Without further ado, here is Kelly’s final offering which has been passed between the 3 artists for 4 weeks:

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I thought it might be pertinent to repeat what Kelly felt about about her experience of Interactions and Intersections

‘Exciting week this was. The work passed was so wonderful, I had a hard time wondering how to yet again morph it into something new. But what was the most exciting for me was knowing the experiences the other artists were having, especially Amanda. When I found out she was still in High School I thought her to be very brave to take this kind of project on. I am excited for her that this is the beginning of her artistic journey and she is not afraid to be challenged. I look forward to following both Amanda and Sara’s work into the future. We will forever be connected by Interactions & Intersections, and of course by Nicky, who so patiently put this all together. Thank you Nicky for providing this kind of forum for creatives to connect and share’.

In case you’ve forgotten what this piece looked pre-collaboration here’s a reminder:

And here’s Sara’s Final Contribution which has been passed between the 3 artists for 4 weeks:

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I thought it might be pertinent to repeat what Sara felt about about her experience of Interactions and Intersections:

‘Interactions and Intersections’ was and still is a fantastic artistic experience. Usually we do a picture ourselves, we think about our experience and our way to see the world. While that is welcome and pleasant., doing something with others helps us expand our view and how we see art. I loved this from the start and every week I had a lot of fun doing every image. I appreciate a lot how I was doing my pictures thinking about the other artists, giving them space to work on it and also trying to keep their expression in the pictures. I also like that I was able to use a lot of media in my pictures. I feel like I grew a lot with this. No wonder Surrealists did something similar to this. I suggest everyone do something like this whenever they get the chance. I also want to thank, Nicky, Amanda, Kelly and David for this amazing experience! Hope I can work with you guys in the future. ‘

In case you’ve forgotten what Sara’s piece looked like pre-collaboration here’s a reminder:

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And here is Amanda’s Final Contribution which has been passed between the 3 artists for the past 4 weeks:

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I thought it might be pertinent to repeat what Amanda felt about about her experience of Interactions and Intersections:

‘I personally loved the experience of this collaboration. I loved interacting with artists from around the world through art. With each pass I got to see who the other artists were, their styles, and how those styles contrasted against each other but still worked together at the same time. It was fun to see each piece progress throughout the weeks. Everyone did a fantastic job, because all of the pieces are amazing works of art! This whole process was amazing but difficult, because I am a high school student. May is a busy time for any student, and keeping up with deadlines proved to be a challenge. However, I was still able to contribute which is really rewarding. If I had an opportunity like this again, I would not hesitate to sign up! Thank you to everyone that participated, especially Nicky who kept us all going.’

In case you have forgotten what Amanda’s original pre-collaboration picture looked like here it is:

Overall, this whole project has been an extremely interesting one to watch unfold. As you can see from what has been produced above the quality and artistry of the original start-off pieces has been retained, and enhanced with integrity and care. I think this project has truly embodied the quote from Alexander Gorlizki that Kelly offered up in such an apposite way in her original post for Interactions and Intersections:

To get involved contact us via any of the comments boxes on our posts/pages or @ArtiPeeps. You would be very welcome!

Vikings Ahoy! It’s The Nine Realms!

ONGOING EPICS

THE NINE REALMS (2014-2015):
Watch this space for our next 9-month large-scale collaborative project ! Starting in the 2nd Week of October 2014. Inspired by the Norse Sagas and Norse Cosmology, Giving creative opportunities to nearly 50 creatives. We'll be combining poetry, prose, art, music and sculpting a Viking boat out of ash, Vikings Ahoy!!!

The Nine Realms Poetry Playlist

The Nine Realms Realm Music

PAST EPIC COLLABORATIONS

TRANSFORMATIONS (2013-2014)

A POETRY AND ART EPIC:

31 Creatives from all around the world and the UK showcased through 1 Contemporary Reworking of Ovid's Metamorphoses.

Making the virtual real via a poetry-art exhibition held at Hanse House, Norfolk, 12-14th September 2014,

The launch of our large-scale exhibition template to be used to give creatives from all disciplines collaborative opportunities year on year.

Wisdom & Mindfulness

ArtiPeeps Videos On Vimeo

Osho: From The Book of Understanding

EXPRESS YOURSELF IN AS MANY WAYS AS POSSIBLE WITHOUT FEAR.THERE IS NOTHING TO FEAR.THERE IS NOBODY WHO IS GOING TO PUNISH OR REWARD YOU. EXPRESS YOUR BEING IN ITS TRUEST FORM, IN ITS NATURAL FLOW, YOU WILL BE REWARDED IMMEDIATELY, NOT TOMORROW BUT TODAY, HERE & NOW. YOU ARE PUNISHED ONLY WHEN YOU GO AGAINST YOUR NATURE. BUT THE PUNISHMENT IS A HELP. IT IS SIMPLY AN INDICATION THAT YOU HAVE MOVED AWAY FROM NATURE, THAT YOU HAVE GONE A LITTLE ASTRAY-OFF THE ROAD-COME BACK. PUNISHMENT IS NO REVENGE.NO, PUNISHMENT IS ONLY AN EFFORT TO WAKE YOU UP: 'WHAT ARE YOU DOING?' . SOMETHING IS WRONG, SOMETHING IS GOING AGAINST YOURSELF. THAT'S WHY THERE IS PAIN, THERE IS ANXIETY.

EVOLUTION IS INTRINSIC TO MAN'S NATURE, EVOLUTION IS HIS VERY SOUL, AND THOSE WHO TAKE THEMSELVES FOR GRANTED REMAIN UNFULFILLED. THOSE WHO THINK THEY ARE BORN COMPLETE REMAIN UNEVOLVED. THEN THE SEED REMAINS THE SEED. IT NEVER BECOMES A TREE AND NEVER KNOWS THE JOYS OF SPRING AND THE SUNSHINE AND THE RAIN AND THE ECSTASY OF BURSTING INTO MILLIONS OF FLOWERS.